Post 360 Photos on Facebook With Your Smartphone and a Free App

You’ve probably seen 360 photos on Facebook lately and wondered how you can create and upload them yourself. Sure, you can take a panoramic photo with your smartphone, but it isn’t quite as immersive.

What You’ll Need

You’ll need an iPhone or an Android smartphone and the Google Street View app (iOS or Android). The Galaxy S6 and S7 both come with sphere modes that take these shots within the native cameras. Those with S4 and S5 can download this ability to do it natively through the Samsung store. (Thanks, Tyron!)

Shooting Your 360 Photo

Open the Google Street View app on your device and tap the ‘+’ button in the bottom right corner.

Choose the ‘Camera’ option.

Point your camera at the orange dots until you have completed a full 360-degree panorama. The middle button will turn to a green check mark when it’s ready.

Once your 360 photo is ready, you have the option of uploading it to Google Street View.

Post 360 Photos on Facebook

You’ll see your 360 photo in your camera roll once the Google Street View app has stitched it together. From here, you can import it into your favourite editing apps, and if you have an iOS device, you can do the final touches in Darkroom.

It’s vitally important that you keep your image ratio the same, and don’t crop it too much, or else the photo won’t display as a 360-degree panorama on Facebook.

When you’re done editing, upload your 360 photo to Facebook just like a normal photo and you’ll see the 360 icon appear on your image. I suggest uploading when you’re on wifi, as these images can get pretty big!

Now that you know how to post 360 photos on Facebook, join the Facebook 360 Community for some awesome inspiration.